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Coyote hunts are popular in Pennsylvania

If there is one predator that can make a Pennsylvania deer hunter's blood boil, it is the coyote.

The Eastern Coyote has been a resident of this state for ages unknown. However, in the last 20 or so years. its prominence has grown to where the animal can be found in all 67 counties.

The animal's perceived role in the diminishing deer herd in the northern counties is what has hunters upset. Eastern coyotes can be big enough to take down a deer and it is believed they are especially fond of fawns.

The prized target of trappers across the state, the coyote has also become the target of a growing number of special winter hunts organized by sportsman groups. Pennsylvania has no limit or specific season for coyotes and only a hunter's license is needed.

Participating hunters can not only enjoy the hunt, but they have a chance to earn thousands of dollars in prizes and also support the sponsoring organizations.

During the coming winter months, coyote hunts are being held all across the state, mainly in the Northern Tier counties.

One hunt, the Tubmill Trout Club's Big Dog Eastern Championship Coyote Hunt scheduled for Feb. 22-24, covers five states, including Pennsylvania and Maryland and is guaranteeing more than $10,000 in prize money. The activities are centered at the VFW in New Florence, Westmoreland County.

Another popular hunt is being held from Feb. 15-17 by the Mosquito Creek Sportsmen's Association, Frenchville. More than 3,900 hunters registered for the 2012 hunt and 120 coyotes were weighed.

Other hunts, with applications available on the clubs' webites, include:

Sinnemahoning Sportsmen Association is having a hunt on Feb. 15-17. The application deadline is Feb. 2.

Pennsylvania State Hunter Organization of Perry County will have a hunt Feb. 15-17. The club is located on Meadow Grove Road, Newport.

Indian Mountain Rod and Gun Club, Kresgeville.

The Angler Club of Lucinda.

Blair County Game Fish and Forestry Association

Riggles Gap Sportsmen, Altoona

Warsaw Twp. Sportsmen, Hazen, Jefferson County

Kane Fish and Game Club, Kane.

Enon Valley Rod and Gun Club, New Galilee, Beaver County.

Cresson Community Sportsmen's Club, Cresson, Cambria County.

Rules for most of the hunts allow the animals to be taken anywhere in Pennsylvania or other states listed on the guidelines. Animals must be harvested on the days of the hunt. One club, Mosquito Creek, is serious by stating that a polygraph test may be used to confirm hunt results.

With nearly 4,000 hunters registered and only 120 animals weighed during Mosquito Creek's 2012 hunt, that is a pretty good indication the coyote is not easily hunted.

Pennsylvania Game Commission biologists will say, "Don't expect to see or hear them regularly." The secretive creature prefers to operate at night. The experts say, "Few of the state's mammals have an ancestral background as untraceable or a lifestyle as obscure as the eastern coyote's."

A PGC field note states, "... photographic evidence of coyotes in Pennsylvania first appeared in the 1930s. There fondness for remote areas and scant numbers kept them out of the public's eye for decades, except for the occasional one shot by a deer hunter. That changes in the 1980s, when their population began to expand in leaps and bounds."

Probably 20 years ago, I heard from a reliable source of a coyote being shot and killed near Littlestown.

Only once has this writer encountered a coyote in Pennsylvania and only for a brief moment. Many years ago, while hunting on the first day of the rifle deer season in McKean County, I had just laid down my rifle and was digging into my backpack for a sandwich. I noticed movement to my right and watched as a critter, which I thought was a fox, trotting toward me. When I moved to reach for the rifle, it saw me and quickly reversed direction and disappeared. This only took seconds.

I heard their barking and howling. Darkness was setting in and the deer hunt was ending for the day. It was kind of creepy and we were only too happy to be leaving the woods.

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